I Cancelled Our Wedding After Seeing His Call Log Chapter 08

I Cancelled Our Wedding After Seeing His Call Log Chapter 08

By the time I arrived at the hospital room, David was lying flat on the mattress with his eyes tightly shut.

His face was completely devoid of color.

In our five years together, I had never once seen him look this fragile.

Yet, I merely cast a detached glance over his frame, harboring no other thought than a silent wish that he wouldn’t die on my watch, mostly to avoid the bad luck.

Just as I turned to leave, the man behind me suddenly opened his heavy eyelids, his voice incredibly hoarse as he spoke.

“Chloe…”

My footsteps paused. Turning around, our eyes locked—one pair entirely serene, the other swimming with profound agony.

“Do you truly hate me this much?”

David’s eyes welled with sudden moisture.

Memories of the past flooded his mind; every single time he suffered a stomach flare-up or a fever, Chloe was always right there by his side to nurse him back to health.

She had personally prepared every meal for years.

Gradually, his chronic stomach aches had become a rare occurrence.

He used to wake up frequently to find Chloe slumped over the edge of the mattress, her hand still holding his in a protective grip.

Every single time he witnessed it, his heart would soften significantly.

Yet, he always held the conviction that an academic shouldn’t display vulnerability, so the moment she woke, he would immediately revert back to his stern, unreadable persona.

But now, seeing her stand there entirely indifferent to his illness, an overwhelming wave of panic consumed him.

Because he truly realized he no longer possessed a single leverage point to make her stay.

The sheer realization brought a sharp, physical ache to his chest.

Meanwhile, I quietly observed the deep crimson spreading along the rims of his eyes, my heart failing to register even a single flicker of emotion.

Once upon a time, during countless nights spent alone in an empty bed, I had cried exactly like this.

During the countless moments I was paralyzed by fear but choked back my tears because I didn’t want to disrupt his precious schedule, I had wept the exact same way.

But what good did it do?

He was perfectly content to stay on the line with another woman until dawn, never once bothering to inquire about my emotional well-being.

In that moment, I suddenly realized.

Beyond an inability to forgive, what I harbored for him was pure, unadulterated hatred.

I hated him for his absolute apathy toward me. I hated him for leaving me to face a terrifying stalker alone at a police station during my hour of maximum vulnerability.

I hated his coldness.

I hated his complete lack of boundaries.

The more the thoughts swirled, the colder my gaze became.

David forced his weak body into a sitting position. “I know nothing I say can undo the past, but Chloe, I am begging you—give me just one chance to make things right, to win you back.”

He looked up at me with a profoundly cautious, pleading expression. “Please?”

I remained perfectly still for two seconds before letting out a sudden, mocking laugh. The utter derision in my voice caused David’s frame to visibly tremble.

“What exactly are you trying to accomplish here?”

I truly couldn’t comprehend his logic; it felt entirely farcical.

“You only realize my worth the moment I’m gone? David, stop putting on a performance. You’re simply suffering from bruised pride.”

“Even if we magically got back together, do you honestly believe your deeply ingrained habits would change?”

“You would inevitably revert back to the exact same man, completely ignoring my existence.”

A cold, bitter sneer curled my lips, heavy with absolute disgust.

“And that includes your entire family. Your mother, your lifestyle—I despise every single bit of it. That perpetual, high-and-mighty arrogance you all carry makes me sick to my stomach.”

The air in the hospital room instantly turned dead and stagnant.

The words were devastatingly heavy, slamming into David’s chest like a massive sledgehammer.

The remaining color completely drained from his already translucent face.

“That’s not true.”

He lowered his head, his voice cracking. “I know exactly where I failed you. I swear to God I will never let it happen again. And as for my family, I will ensure they treat you with nothing but absolute respect and affection, Chloe. I swear it.”

He offered a deeply subservient, pathetic plea.

I met it with absolute, unyielding coldness.

“Your promises mean nothing to me, David. Stop harassing me.”

“Meeting you is the biggest regret of my life.”

With that final declaration, I turned to walk out.

Only as my hand wrapped around the doorknob did I pause, tilting my head slightly back toward the room.

“And don’t think you can guilt-trip me. If you’re going to die, do it somewhere I don’t have to deal with it.”

The door slammed shut with a sharp, definitive bang.

I didn’t stay to witness the transition from utter shock to profound devastation in David’s eyes.

He sat in the ensuing silence for two seconds before a bitter smile fractured his face.

A single tear rolled down his cheek, followed rapidly by a second, then a third, dampening the sterile hospital sheets as his composure completely broke into heavy, muffled sobs.

“I’m so sorry…”

“It was all my fault…”